USPS confirms Hampden facility consolidation

The U.S. Postal Service has confirmed reports that it will consolidate processing operations at the Hampden facility in Scarborough sometime after mid-May. USPS is consolidating operations at more than 250 facilities around the country.

USPS spokesman Tom Rizzo told the Portland Press Herald that most of the 183 jobs at the Eastern Maine Processing and Distribution Facility will be affected, but that many employees will be offered jobs at post offices or the Scarborough processing facility. He didn't know how many new jobs will be added to the Southern Maine Processing and Distribution Center, which currently employs 540. Employees at the Hampden facility were told Wednesday that the USPS would shift mail processing to Scarborough, leaving 13 people employed in Hampden. Rizzo said a date for the move wasn't set, but that it would be after May 15, the day a congressional moratorium on USPS facility consolidation ends.

Nationally, the USPS is closing 223 of its 460 mail processing facilities to rein in costs by $3 billion. Another 41 facilities are subject to additional review before a decision to close or consolidate them is made, according to The Associated Press. About 35,000 jobs are expected to be lost as part of the closures and consolidations.